Feel-good Friday
At the end of 2023, Customer Service Advisor, Davor Cakanic, took the decision to commute to work on foot - not by walking, but by running there and back.
In his first year, Davor clocked up an impressive 180 runs – to work and back 90 times – racking up 799.7 miles and burning an impressive 119,340 calories in the process. He also saved 73.6kg of CO2 – almost his own body weight – his own Steps to Zero!
From those figures, Davor went on to calculate that between end the end of 2023 and the end of 2024, he spent around 99 hours commuting (32 minutes each way) and saved £933 on an annual bus pass. A tidy result.
Davor says: ‘I decided to run to work because, well, it was the most sensible thing to do. I really do love running. I run long distances and it seemed illogical to spend at least an hour every day driving to work and back and then going for a run.
‘Driving also incurred costs of petrol, jamming up the car park, possible parking fees, sitting in traffic and polluting the air. I tried public transport but that took longer than it would take me to run and also carried a price with it.’
Davor describes his route to the Pond Street office in Sheffield as ‘pretty hilly without too many crossings where I need to wait for the traffic.
‘But I also get rewarded with stunning sunrises and sunsets in the winter,’ he says. ‘I live an active running life and run five or six times a week. If I had to take additional time to run on the days I travel to the office, that would affect my home life in the time I would spend away from my family.
‘Running has been a constant of my life since high school, but properly since my first half-marathon in 2008. Then I completely fell in love with it and it has been shaping my life since. It helped me stay fit and healthy, it has been my mental therapist on numerous occasions, it gave me some of my favourite people in my life, and has taken me places I would not have visited otherwise.
‘In the times when we live more and more sedentary lives, any form of movement will benefit us.
‘My advice for anyone wanting to give it a go is - go easy. It is the best thing in the world (seriously!) but not if you break yourself at the beginning. No need to run it all - you're always allowed to walk (especially on the hills) in between. You can do it, honestly.’
